Misplaced Pages

FernGully: The Last Rainforest

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
#583416

96-574: FernGully: The Last Rainforest is a 1992 animated musical fantasy film directed by Bill Kroyer in his feature directorial debut . Scripted by Jim Cox and adapted from the "FernGully" stories by Diana Young, the film is an Australian and American venture produced by Kroyer Films , Inc., Youngheart Productions, FAI Films , and distributed by 20th Century Fox . It stars the voices of Tim Curry , Samantha Mathis , Christian Slater , Jonathan Ward , Robin Williams , and Grace Zabriskie . The film

192-445: A bat who was experimented on by humans, giving him a manic and deluded personality, and an electric device sticking out of his head. Crysta accompanies Batty to investigate the humans' potential return. She meets Zak, a young lumberjack who Crysta inadvertently shrinks when she tries saving him from being crushed by a falling tree, although she does not know how to restore him to normal size. After she rescues him from being eaten by Lou,

288-530: A mountain in the Tweed Range in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales , Australia , was formed from a volcanic plug of the now-gone Tweed Volcano . The mountain is located 14 kilometres (9 mi) west-south-west of Murwillumbah , near the border between New South Wales and Queensland . Lieutenant James Cook saw the mountain from the sea and named it Mount Warning, believing he

384-490: A consistent way to whatever style is employed on a particular film. Since the early 1980s, teams of about 500 to 600 people, of whom 50 to 70 are animators, typically have created feature-length animated films. It is relatively easy for two or three artists to match their styles; synchronizing those of dozens of artists is more difficult. This problem is usually solved by having a separate group of visual development artists develop an overall look and palette for each film before

480-422: A dedicated Disneyana Fan Club (since 1984). Disneyland opened in 1955 and features many attractions that were based on Disney's cartoon characters. Its enormous success spawned several other Disney theme parks and resorts . Disney's earnings from the theme parks have relatively often been higher than those from their movies. As with any other form of media, animation has instituted awards for excellence in

576-469: A forty minute uphill walk to the ascent for anyone attempting to climb the mountain; and the path on the mountain itself had deteriorated badly in places. In late October 2022 NSW authorities did go ahead and ban public access to Wollumbin National Park, to be enforced with heavy fines. This was soon followed by a video posting showing a hiker flouting the ban. There has been significant backlash in

672-453: A hungry goanna , Zak gains Crysta's trust and agrees to go with her to Ferngully so Magi can unshrink him. Along the way, they bond by talking about their lives, but Zak hides the true reason for the humans' return. The tree in which Hexxus is imprisoned is cut down by Zak's supervisors, Tony and Ralph, having accidentally been marked by Zak when he used his spray can to deal with a pesky fly. Hexxus quickly begins to regain his powers by eating

768-451: A new life on the small screen and by the end of the 1950s, the production of new animated cartoons started to shift from theatrical releases to TV series. Hanna-Barbera Productions was especially prolific and had huge hit series, such as The Flintstones (1960–1966) (the first prime time animated series), Scooby-Doo (since 1969) and Belgian co-production The Smurfs (1981–1989). The constraints of American television programming and

864-400: A pizza and split". The film's score was composed and produced by Alan Silvestri . It was released as an album and consisted of 14 tracks, running just under 44 minutes in length. The soundtrack album was released by MCA Records . Peter Fawthrop from Allmusic gave the album three stars out of five, commenting that the songs were "lighter and more pop-driven than Disney soundtracks from

960-476: A point of land he named Cape Byron. Just five hours later while sailing North, Cook was forced to change course to the East after encountering the dangerous reefs that run 3 miles to the East from Fingal Head , now named Danger Reefs (Inner, South, and Outer reefs). The next morning, Cook recorded: "…We now saw the breakers [reefs] again within us which we past at the distance of 1 League [5 km], they lay in

1056-405: A secluded rainforest east of Mount Warning . The fairies of FernGully once lived in harmony with humans, who are believed to be extinct after having been driven away by a dark and evil spirit of destruction, Hexxus. Crysta is the apprentice of Magi, the fairy tribe's leader, who ended Hexxus' reign by sealing him inside a tree. One day, Crysta explores a new part of the forest and meets Batty Koda,

SECTION 10

#1732802082584

1152-520: A separate background, computer animation is usually based on programming paths between key frames to maneuver digitally created figures throughout a digitally created environment. Analog mechanical animation media that rely on the rapid display of sequential images include the phenakistiscope , zoetrope , flip book , praxinoscope , and film. Television and video are popular electronic animation media that originally were analog and now operate digitally . For display on computers, technology such as

1248-450: A true powerhouse of animation production, with its own recognizable and influential anime style of effective limited animation . Animation became very popular on television since the 1950s, when television sets started to become common in most developed countries. Cartoons were mainly programmed for children, on convenient time slots, and especially US youth spent many hours watching Saturday-morning cartoons . Many classic cartoons found

1344-531: A very long history in automata . Electronic automata were popularized by Disney as animatronics . The word animation stems from the Latin animātiōn , stem of animātiō , meaning 'bestowing of life'. The earlier meaning of the English word is 'liveliness' and has been in use much longer than the meaning of 'moving image medium'. Long before modern animation began, audiences around the world were captivated by

1440-409: A wide variety of styles, relatively often including stop motion and cutout animation techniques. Soviet Soyuzmultfilm animation studio, founded in 1936, produced 20 films (including shorts) per year on average and reached 1,582 titles in 2018. China, Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic, Italy, France, and Belgium were other countries that more than occasionally released feature films, while Japan became

1536-406: A younger generation... and belong[s] to relatively discredited genres". As Zak is shrunk to fairy size and integrated into the fairy world, more similarities rather than differences are implied with the nonhuman characters. Crysta is said to defeat the evil Hexxus "in the manner of classic western genre heroes", although with the key difference that her weapon is a seed rather than a revolver, allowing

1632-687: Is endemic to the slopes of the mountain. Wollumbin is a place of cultural and traditional significance to the Bundjalung people and contains sacred sites, where particular ceremonies and initiation rites are performed. The summit area of the Mountain is a declared Aboriginal Place under the National Parks and Wildlife Act .   While now spelt Wollumbin, the Aboriginal word had numerous alternative spellings which are recorded in

1728-579: Is a filmmaking technique by which still images are manipulated to create moving images . In traditional animation , images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets ( cels ) to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animation has been recognized as an artistic medium, specifically within the entertainment industry . Many animations are either tradtional animations or computer animations made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Stop motion animation , in particular claymation , has continued to exist alongside these other forms. Animation

1824-708: Is a technique combining hand-drawn characters into live action shots or live-action actors into animated shots. One of the earlier uses was in Koko the Clown when Koko was drawn over live-action footage. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created a series of Alice Comedies (1923–1927), in which a live-action girl enters an animated world. Other examples include Allegro Non Troppo (Italy, 1976), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (US, 1988), Volere volare (Italy 1991), Space Jam (US, 1996) and Osmosis Jones (US, 2001). Mount Warning Mount Warning ( Bundjalung : Wollumbin ),

1920-549: Is conspicuous enough to be distinguished from everything else. The point off which these shoals lay I have named Point Danger to the northward of it the land which is low trends NWBN but we soon found that it did not keep that direction long before it turned again to the northward." The mountain is now protected by the surrounding Wollumbin National Park , and access is regulated by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service . Mount Warning

2016-448: Is contrasted with live-action film , although the two do not exist in isolation. Many moviemakers have produced films that are a hybrid of the two . As CGI increasingly approximates photographic imagery , filmmakers can easily composite 3D animations into their film rather than using practical effects for showy visual effects (VFX). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation , while 2D computer animation (which may have

SECTION 20

#1732802082584

2112-442: Is hopeless, Zak convinces Batty to help him stop the machine before it destroys them. After Zak makes his presence known to Tony and Ralph, Hexxus takes over the machine and begins to wildly destroy the forest. Meanwhile, Magi sacrifices herself to give the fairies a chance, and she tells Crysta to remember everything she has learned. Zak disables the machine, depriving Hexxus of the source of his power, but he manifests himself within

2208-528: Is part of the United Nations World Heritage -listed Gondwana Rainforests of Australia . Over 100,000 people a year make the 8.8-kilometre (5.5 mi), five-hour round-trip trek to the top from Breakfast Creek . An ascent of the mountain takes approximately 1½ to 3½ hours (one way) and requires a good level of fitness. There are also viewing platforms at the summit. The total journey is 8.8 km (5.5 mi). In March 2020

2304-413: Is pointless for a studio to pay the salaries of dozens of animators to spend weeks creating a visually dazzling five-minute scene if that scene fails to effectively advance the plot of the film. Thus, animation studios starting with Disney began the practice in the 1930s of maintaining story departments where storyboard artists develop every single scene through storyboards , then handing the film over to

2400-451: Is set in an Australian rainforest inhabited by fairies , including Crysta, who accidentally shrinks a young logger named Zak to the size of a fairy. Together, they rally the fairies and the animals of the rainforest to protect their home from the loggers and Hexxus, a malevolent pollution entity. Wayne Young, the film's producer, said that the film was "blatantly environmental", although he made an effort to avoid "preaching". FernGully

2496-449: Is that once a film is in the production phase, the marginal cost of one more shot is higher for animated films than live-action films. It is relatively easy for a director to ask for one more take during principal photography of a live-action film, but every take on an animated film must be manually rendered by animators (although the task of rendering slightly different takes has been made less tedious by modern computer animation). It

2592-404: Is the best known and most extreme example. Since first being licensed for a children's writing tablet in 1929, their Mickey Mouse mascot has been depicted on an enormous amount of products , as have many other Disney characters. This may have influenced some pejorative use of Mickey's name , but licensed Disney products sell well, and the so-called Disneyana has many avid collectors, and even

2688-529: Is the process of producing high-quality traditionally animated films that regularly use detailed drawings and plausible movement, having a smooth animation. Fully animated films can be made in a variety of styles, from more realistically animated works like those produced by the Walt Disney studio ( The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin , The Lion King ) to the more 'cartoon' styles of

2784-432: Is the process that was used for most animated films of the 20th century. The individual frames of a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, first drawn on paper. To create the illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the one before it. The animators' drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called cels , which are filled in with paints in assigned colors or tones on

2880-763: The Internet ( web cartoons ). Rotoscoping is a technique patented by Max Fleischer in 1917 where animators trace live-action movement, frame by frame. The source film can be directly copied from actors' outlines into animated drawings, as in The Lord of the Rings (US, 1978), or used in a stylized and expressive manner, as in Waking Life (US, 2001) and A Scanner Darkly (US, 2006). Some other examples are Fire and Ice (US, 1983), Heavy Metal (1981), and Aku no Hana (Japan, 2013). Live-action/animation

2976-533: The Tweed Valley . During the last stages of eruption, different and more resistant forms of lava that were cooler than those flows that created the shield volcano remained to form the current peak. The whole central Mount Warning massif was also pushed up by forces that remained active after lava eruptions had stopped. A species of frog , the Mount Wollumbin hip-pocket frog ( Assa wollumbin )

FernGully: The Last Rainforest - Misplaced Pages Continue

3072-525: The Warner Bros. animation studio . Many of the Disney animated features are examples of full animation, as are non-Disney works, The Secret of NIMH (US, 1982), The Iron Giant (US, 1999), and Nocturna (Spain, 2007). Fully animated films are often animated on "twos", sometimes on "ones", which means that 12 to 24 drawings are required for a single second of film. Limited animation involves

3168-556: The animated GIF and Flash animation were developed. In addition to short films , feature films , television series , animated GIFs, and other media dedicated to the display of moving images, animation is also prevalent in video games , motion graphics , user interfaces , and visual effects . The physical movement of image parts through simple mechanics—for instance, moving images in magic lantern shows—can also be considered animation. The mechanical manipulation of three-dimensional puppets and objects to emulate living beings has

3264-462: The flip book (1868), the praxinoscope (1877) and film . When cinematography eventually broke through in the 1890s, the wonder of the realistic details in the new medium was seen as its biggest accomplishment. It took years before animation found its way to the cinemas. The successful short The Haunted Hotel (1907) by J. Stuart Blackton popularized stop motion and reportedly inspired Émile Cohl to create Fantasmagorie (1908), regarded as

3360-439: The persistence of vision and later to the phi phenomenon and beta movement , but the exact neurological causes are still uncertain. The illusion of motion caused by a rapid succession of images that minimally differ from each other, with unnoticeable interruptions, is a stroboscopic effect . While animators traditionally used to draw each part of the movements and changes of figures on transparent cels that could be moved over

3456-468: The "Family Fun Edition". Aaron Peck from High Def Digest gave it three stars out of five for video quality, four stars for audio and three-and-a-half stars for extras. Brian Orndorf from Blu-ray.com gave the release three stars out of five for video quality, three-and-a-half stars for audio and four stars for special features. In 2022, for its 30th anniversary, FernGully received a new Blu-ray release by Shout! Factory . Animated Animation

3552-642: The '90s, but they are not childish". All songs on the soundtrack were performed in the film. FernGully was released in the United States on April 10, 1992, and in Australia on September 17. The film was shown at the United Nations General Assembly on Earth Day , April 22. FernGully grossed 32.7 million USD worldwide, including $ 24.7 million from the United States, and $ 3.4 million in Australia. The box-office performance

3648-538: The 1960s, and European producers looking for affordable cel animators relatively often started co-productions with Japanese studios, resulting in hit series such as Barbapapa (The Netherlands/Japan/France 1973–1977), Wickie und die starken Männer/小さなバイキング ビッケ (Vicky the Viking) (Austria/Germany/Japan 1974), Maya the Honey Bee (Japan/Germany 1975) and The Jungle Book (Italy/Japan 1989). Computer animation

3744-522: The Beast was the first animated film nominated for Best Picture , in 1991. Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010) also received Best Picture nominations, after the academy expanded the number of nominees from five to ten. The creation of non-trivial animation works (i.e., longer than a few seconds) has developed as a form of filmmaking , with certain unique aspects. Traits common to both live-action and animated feature films are labor intensity and high production costs. The most important difference

3840-518: The Beast . On Rotten Tomatoes , the film has an approval rating of 67%, based on reviews from 18 critics, with an average rating of 6.4/10. On Metacritic , the film has a score of 67 out of 100, based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "A" on scale of A+ to F. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three stars out of four, saying that

3936-712: The Friendly Ghost (1945), Warner Bros. Cartoon Studios ' Looney Tunes ' Porky Pig (1935), Daffy Duck (1937), Elmer Fudd (1937–1940), Bugs Bunny (1938–1940), Tweety (1942), Sylvester the Cat (1945), Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (1949), MGM cartoon studio 's Tom and Jerry (1940) and Droopy , Universal Cartoon Studios ' Woody Woodpecker (1940), Terrytoons / 20th Century Fox 's Mighty Mouse (1942), and United Artists ' Pink Panther (1963). In 1917, Italian-Argentine director Quirino Cristiani made

FernGully: The Last Rainforest - Misplaced Pages Continue

4032-466: The Lat de of 38°..8' [later changed to 28°..8'] & stretch off East two Leagues [10 km] from a point under which is a small Island. There situation may always be found by the peaked mountain before mentioned which bears SWBW from them this and on this account I have named Mount Warning it lies 7 or 8 Leagues [35-40 km] inland in the latitude of 28°..22" S° the land is high and hilly about it but it

4128-510: The Mountain as the Warrior Chief, a special place of significance for brush turkey, and the cloud catcher. Many more stories exist that are not in the public record. The name Wollumbin refers to the whole of the central vent and its surrounding ring dykes. The Bundjalung people observe cultural and traditional restrictions forbidding the uninitiated from climbing the mountain, and, as such, ask that others also do not attempt to climb

4224-594: The Tramp (1955) failed at the box office. For decades afterward, Disney would be the only American studio to regularly produce animated features, until Ralph Bakshi became the first to also release more than a handful features. Sullivan-Bluth Studios began to regularly produce animated features starting with An American Tail in 1986. Although relatively few titles became as successful as Disney's features, other countries developed their own animation industries that produced both short and feature theatrical animations in

4320-524: The US. Successful producer John Randolph Bray and animator Earl Hurd , patented the cel animation process that dominated the animation industry for the rest of the century. Felix the Cat , who debuted in 1919, became the first fully realized anthropomorphic animal character in the history of American animation. In 1928, Steamboat Willie , featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse , popularized film-with-synchronized-sound and put Walt Disney 's studio at

4416-498: The adventures of human protagonists. Especially with animals that form a natural predator/prey relationship (e.g. cats and mice, coyotes and birds), the action often centers on violent pratfalls such as falls, collisions, and explosions that would be lethal in real life. A cartoon can also be a still humorous drawing, often with the same elements as animated cartoons but with still versions. The illusion of animation—as in motion pictures in general—has traditionally been attributed to

4512-469: The animation begins. Character designers on the visual development team draw model sheets to show how each character should look like with different facial expressions, posed in different positions, and viewed from different angles. On traditionally animated projects, maquettes were often sculpted to further help the animators see how characters would look from different angles. Unlike live-action films, animated films were traditionally developed beyond

4608-521: The animators only after the production team is satisfied that all the scenes make sense as a whole. While live-action films are now also storyboarded, they enjoy more latitude to depart from storyboards (i.e., real-time improvisation). Another problem unique to animation is the requirement to maintain a film's consistency from start to finish, even as films have grown longer and teams have grown larger. Animators, like all artists, necessarily have individual styles, but must subordinate their individuality in

4704-527: The book Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films , M. Keith Booker states that FernGully "focuses on the theme of the destruction of the Earth's rainforests. In this case the rainforest is located near Mount Warning , on the eastern coast of Australia, but the theme is global, and the specific location is not particularly emphasized." Despite the environmental theme, Booker wrote that

4800-740: The character Batty Koda being created specifically for him. Williams provided fourteen hours of improvised lines for the part, which had been originally conceived as an eight-minute role. Director Bill Kroyer was so impressed with the voice work that he ended up tripling the screen time given to the character. Williams would provide the voice of the Genie in Disney's Aladdin later in the year, receiving critical acclaim. Williams had already agreed to voice Batty Koda before being approached to do Aladdin . Jeffrey Katzenberg , chairman of Walt Disney Studios , tried to force Williams to withdraw from FernGully , on

4896-714: The demand for an enormous quantity resulted in cheaper and quicker limited animation methods and much more formulaic scripts. Quality dwindled until more daring animation surfaced in the late 1980s and in the early 1990s with hit series, the first cartoon of The Simpsons (1987), which later developed into its own show (in 1989) and SpongeBob SquarePants (since 1999) as part of a "renaissance" of American animation. While US animated series also spawned successes internationally, many other countries produced their own child-oriented programming, relatively often preferring stop motion and puppetry over cel animation. Japanese anime TV series became very successful internationally since

SECTION 50

#1732802082584

4992-435: The difficulties of getting attention to an animated film that was not produced by Disney, with Willett stating that box-office revenue would have at least doubled by simply having the headline, "Walt Disney presents", on the film. USA Today noted that the combined box-office gross of FernGully and the five other non-Disney animated films released in 1992 did not equal a third of the gross for Disney's 1991 film, Beauty and

5088-422: The drawings and simulate camera movement and effects. The final animated piece is output to one of several delivery media, including traditional 35 mm film and newer media with digital video . The "look" of traditional cel animation is still preserved, and the character animators ' work has remained essentially the same over the past 90 years. Some animation producers have used the term "tradigital" (a play on

5184-868: The field. Many are part of general or regional film award programs, like the China's Golden Rooster Award for Best Animation (since 1981). Awards programs dedicated to animation, with many categories, include ASIFA-Hollywood 's Annie Awards , the Emile Awards in Europe and the Anima Mundi awards in Brazil. Apart from Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film (since 1932) and Best Animated Feature (since 2002), animated movies have been nominated and rewarded in other categories, relatively often for Best Original Song and Best Original Score . Beauty and

5280-475: The film on DVD in 2002. Christopher Simons from DVD Talk gave the 2002 DVD three-and-a-half stars out of five for both audio and video, although only one star for special features, noting that the only extras included were trailers for other films. A "Family Fun Edition" DVD was released in 2005. Special features included commentary with director Bill Kroyer , art director Ralph Eggleston , and coordinating art director Susan Kroyer, several featurettes, including

5376-474: The film was "somewhat vague in its explanation of the dire consequences of rainforest destruction, and it addresses the economic impetus behind this destruction hardly at all"; the fact that the rainforest was saved at the end of the film "diminishes the urgency of its environmentalist message", and that the character of Hexxus "displaces the real blame for environmental destruction from its real perpetrators onto nonexistent supernatural perpetrators, further diluting

5472-432: The film was followed by a direct-to-video sequel, FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue . FAI Films , which produced only FernGully and its sequel, was acquired by HIH Insurance in 1998. HIH closed in 2001. In June 2012, administrators for HIH placed advertisements trying to sell the rights to both films. In November 2021, Shout! Factory made a deal with Machine Media Advisors, acquiring worldwide distribution rights to

5568-661: The film was visually "very pleasing", told a "useful lesson", "and although the movie is not a masterpiece it's pleasant to watch for its humor and sweetness". Hollis Chacona from The Austin Chronicle added that the film was "funny, pretty, touching, scary, magical stuff". Conversely, Janet Maslin of The New York Times had an unfavorable impression of the film, describing it as "an uncertain blend of sanctimonious principles and Saturday-morning cartoon aesthetics", and "more run-of-the-mill than its subject matter might indicate". According to Wayne Young, Jeffrey Katzenberg called

5664-471: The film were complemented by computer animation , which was used to create elements, such as flocks of birds that would have taken much longer to traditionally animate. Kroyer stated that 40,000 frames of computer-generated graphics were used in the film, and that the use of such animation halved the production time. Most of the film's $ 24 million budget was spent on the animation and the soundtrack. The film marked Robin Williams 's first animation role, with

5760-678: The film. Some reviewers have commented that the 2009 James Cameron film, Avatar , plagiarized thematic and plot elements from FernGully , although others opined that it is simply one of many films to which Avatar is similar, or have dismissed the comparison entirely. The 2013 film, Epic , was also said to have an unoriginal plot similar to FernGully . Four months after the theatrical release, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment , under its previous name, "Fox Video", released FernGully on VHS and LaserDisc on August 26, 1992. Sales were strong, with approximately five million units sold by 1998, including 125,000 in Australia. Fox re-released

5856-458: The first feature-length film El Apóstol (now lost ), which became a critical and commercial success. It was followed by Cristiani's Sin dejar rastros in 1918, but one day after its premiere, the film was confiscated by the government. After working on it for three years, Lotte Reiniger released the German feature-length silhouette animation Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed in 1926,

SECTION 60

#1732802082584

5952-406: The forefront of the animation industry. Although Disney Animation's actual output relative to total global animation output, has always been very small; the studio has overwhelmingly dominated the "aesthetic norms" of animation ever since. The enormous success of Mickey Mouse is seen as the start of the golden age of American animation that would last until the 1960s. The United States dominated

6048-517: The grounds that he did not want him voicing two animated characters around the same time, but Williams refused. According to Wayne Young, Disney repeatedly interfered with the production of FernGully , twice taking over spaces that the producers had rented, by offering to pay more. When the producers eventually set up a studio in a former brewery in the San Fernando Valley , Disney attempted to purchase it. Katzenberg declined to comment on

6144-461: The historic record including; Walumban, Walumbin, and Wooloombin, all referring to the same place. In 1873 reference can be found to the Mountain being referred to by Aboriginal people as "Wollumbin", signifying "big fellow mountain". The Aboriginal significance of the area is contextual and dependant on direction of observance, gender, and status of whoever is telling the story. Several different stories exist about Wollumbin including reference to

6240-611: The humour it can provide. Some animated characters in commercials have survived for decades, such as Snap, Crackle and Pop in advertisements for Kellogg's cereals. Tex Avery was the producer of the first Raid " Kills Bugs Dead " commercials in 1966, which were very successful for the company. Apart from their success in movie theaters and television series, many cartoon characters would also prove lucrative when licensed for all kinds of merchandise and for other media. Animation has traditionally been very closely related to comic books . While many comic book characters found their way to

6336-407: The issue when approached by Vanity Fair in 2017. The voice cast of FernGully agreed with the film's message, and worked for scale wages. The film marked the first time that both members of Cheech & Chong had worked together in six years, with the two voicing beetle brothers, Stump and Root. Cheech Marin said that "it was just like old times, but we only worked for two or three hours, had

6432-435: The late 1980s, in a style similar to traditional cel animation. The so-called 3D style, more often associated with computer animation, became the dominant technique following the success of Pixar's Toy Story (1995), the first computer-animated feature in this style. Most of the cel animation studios switched to producing mostly computer-animated films around the 1990s, as it proved cheaper and more profitable. Not only

6528-495: The look of traditional animation) can be used for stylistic reasons, low bandwidth, or faster real-time renderings . Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique to two- and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts , puppets , or clay figures . A cartoon in the animation sense is an animated film, usually short, featuring an exaggerated visual style. The style takes inspiration from comic strips , often featuring anthropomorphic animals , superheroes , or

6624-467: The machine's polluting elements. He tricks Tony and Ralph into driving to FernGully. In FernGully, Zak meets Pips, a fairy who is jealous of Zak's relationship with Crysta. Zak begins falling in love with Crysta. When Crysta sees the forest's pollution caused by Hexxus and the machine, she becomes frustrated at Zak for lying to her. Zak finally admits that humans are destroying the forest. The fairies mount an attempt to defend their homes. Knowing their fight

6720-421: The magic of moving characters. For centuries, master artists and craftsmen have brought puppets, automatons , shadow puppets , and fantastical lanterns to life, inspiring the imagination through physically manipulated wonders. In 1833, the stroboscopic disc (better known as the phenakistiscope ) introduced the principle of modern animation, which would also be applied in the zoetrope (introduced in 1866),

6816-496: The magical leader of the fairy clan. She gives Zak a seed, asking him to remember everything that has transpired, and she forlornly restores him to his human size. Remembering the seed in his hand, Zak promises to remember his adventure and buries the seed in the soil before telling Tony and Ralph that things need to change, as they leave the forest behind. Touched by his act, Crysta helps the seed to sprout new growth for FernGully, before playfully chasing Pips, with Batty following. In

6912-585: The mountain. The government National Parks and Wildlife Service advertise this request and do not encourage climbers to hike the Mt. Warning/Wollumbin Trail up the mountain, but it is not forbidden by park regulations. In 2005 the name "Mount Wollumbin" was removed from a peak nearby to Mount Warning by the Geographical Names Board. This mountain is also referred to as Mount Ivy and Mount Dum Dum and

7008-505: The oil in the machine and begins to set the forest ablaze. Crysta allows herself to be devoured by Hexxus, and all seems lost until he begins to sprout limbs and leaves like a tree. Pips and the rest of the fairies rally to the powers given by Magi, which causes the seed that Crysta fed Hexxus to wildly start growing. Hexxus and the machine are both imprisoned by the newly grown tree at FernGully's border, which bursts into bloom. With FernGully saved, Crysta reunites with Zak and succeeds Magi as

7104-824: The oldest extant animated feature. In 1937, Walt Disney Studios premiered their first animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , still one of the highest-grossing traditional animation features as of May 2020 . The Fleischer studios followed this example in 1939 with Gulliver's Travels with some success. Partly due to foreign markets being cut off by the Second World War, Disney's next features Pinocchio , Fantasia (both 1940), Fleischer Studios' second animated feature Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941–1942) and Disney's feature films Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Lady and

7200-510: The oldest known example of a complete traditional (hand-drawn) animation on standard cinematographic film. Other great artistic and very influential short films were created by Ladislas Starevich with his puppet animations since 1910 and by Winsor McCay with detailed hand-drawn animation in films such as Little Nemo (1911) and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). During the 1910s, the production of animated " cartoons " became an industry in

7296-416: The original featurette from 1992, the music video for "If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody (It Might As Well Be You)" by Tone Loc , as well as trailers and TV spots. Scott Weinberg from DVD Talk gave this version four stars out of five for both audio and video, and four stars for special features. For its 20th anniversary, FernGully was released on Blu-ray on March 6, 2012, containing the same special features as

7392-466: The political message". The character of Batty was said to introduce "the secondary theme of animal experimentation, though with a light touch that presents this potentially horrifying motif as essentially humorous". In the book, Eco-Impacts and the Greening of Postmodernity , Tom Jagtenberg and David McKie comment that radical views of ecology flourished in the film, perhaps because it was "aimed at

7488-433: The produce of nature to share the heroic role with her. Producer Wayne Young said that his passion for the environment was his motivation for making the film, saying that the film was "blatantly environmental, although we have gone to a lot of trouble to avoid preaching. We also want it to be viewed as entertainment." The inspiration for FernGully came from stories written by his former wife, Diana Young. Diana first wrote

7584-731: The producers of FernGully to tell them that he loved the film. Wayne Young stated that portions of the film's gross would be donated to Greenpeace , the Rainforest Foundation Fund and the Sierra Club , as well as a special fund benefiting environmental projects administered worldwide by the Smithsonian Institution , although he did not disclose exact figures. The film also inspired a 1992 video game by Capstone Software and IntraCorp , called The FernGully Computerized Coloring Book . In 1998,

7680-768: The screen (which is often the case in Japan, where many manga are adapted into anime ), original animated characters also commonly appear in comic books and magazines. Somewhat similarly, characters and plots for video games (an interactive form of animation that became its own medium) have been derived from films and vice versa. Some of the original content produced for the screen can be used and marketed in other media. Stories and images can easily be adapted into children's books and other printed media. Songs and music have appeared on records and as streaming media. While very many animation companies commercially exploit their creations outside moving image media, The Walt Disney Company

7776-458: The side opposite the line drawings. The completed character cels are photographed one-by-one against a painted background by a rostrum camera onto motion picture film. The traditional cel animation process became obsolete by the beginning of the 21st century. In modern traditionally animated films, animators' drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned into or drawn directly into a computer system. Various software programs are used to color

7872-439: The story of FernGully fifteen years before the film's release. Wayne said that the couple planned a film adaptation for five years, then spent "seven years of dreaming and hustling, followed by another three years of production". Wayne stated that their dream was not possible until the success of Walt Disney Feature Animation 's 1989 film, The Little Mermaid , which helped bring popularity back to animation. Hand-drawn scenes in

7968-521: The summit track was closed by National Parks NSW citing safety concerns, to be reviewed in May 2021. However, in February 2021 documents obtained through Freedom Of Information revealed that the track and surrounding area has actually been secretly scheduled to be permanently closed. As of August 2022 park authorities had placed a barrier on the access road several kilometres from the trailhead. This would add

8064-425: The synopsis stage through the storyboard format; the storyboard artists would then receive credit for writing the film. In the early 1960s, animation studios began hiring professional screenwriters to write screenplays (while also continuing to use story departments) and screenplays had become commonplace for animated films by the late 1980s. Traditional animation (also called cel animation or hand-drawn animation)

8160-594: The top that has greatly eroded. Today the vast areas that were part of the volcano include many mountains and ranges at some distance from Mount Warning, and include the Border Ranges , Tamborine Mountain , the McPherson Range and both the Lamington Plateau and Springbrook Plateaus . The erosion caldera formed since this eruption is easily visible around the summit and forms the rim of

8256-847: The use of less detailed or more stylized drawings and methods of movement usually a choppy or "skippy" movement animation. Limited animation uses fewer drawings per second, thereby limiting the fluidity of the animation. This is a more economic technique. Pioneered by the artists at the American studio United Productions of America , limited animation can be used as a method of stylized artistic expression, as in Gerald McBoing-Boing (US, 1951), Yellow Submarine (UK, 1968), and certain anime produced in Japan. Its primary use, however, has been in producing cost-effective animated content for media for television (the work of Hanna-Barbera, Filmation , and other TV animation studios ) and later

8352-565: The value had increased to an estimated US$ 370 billion. Animated feature-length films returned the highest gross margins (around 52%) of all film genres between 2004 and 2013. Animation as an art and industry continues to thrive as of the early 2020s. The clarity of animation makes it a powerful tool for instruction, while its total malleability also allows exaggeration that can be employed to convey strong emotions and to thwart reality. It has therefore been widely used for other purposes than mere entertainment. During World War II, animation

8448-401: The very popular 3D animation style was generated with computers, but also most of the films and series with a more traditional hand-crafted appearance, in which the charming characteristics of cel animation could be emulated with software, while new digital tools helped developing new styles and effects. In 2010, the animation market was estimated to be worth circa US$ 80 billion. By 2021,

8544-683: The words "traditional" and "digital") to describe cel animation that uses significant computer technology. Examples of traditionally animated feature films include Pinocchio (United States, 1940), Animal Farm (United Kingdom, 1954), Lucky and Zorba (Italy, 1998), and The Illusionist (British-French, 2010). Traditionally animated films produced with the aid of computer technology include The Lion King (US, 1994), Anastasia (US, 1997), The Prince of Egypt (US, 1998), Akira (Japan, 1988), Spirited Away (Japan, 2001), The Triplets of Belleville (France, 2003), and The Secret of Kells (Irish-French-Belgian, 2009). Full animation

8640-482: The world market of animation with a plethora of cel-animated theatrical shorts. Several studios would introduce characters that would become very popular and would have long-lasting careers, including Walt Disney Productions ' Goofy (1932) and Donald Duck (1934), Fleischer Studios / Paramount Cartoon Studios ' Out of the Inkwell ' Koko the Clown (1918), Bimbo and Betty Boop (1930), Popeye (1933) and Casper

8736-466: Was believed to be named Mount Wollumbin in error. In 2006 the Geographical Names Board assigned dual naming to Mount Warning, to also be known by its indigenous name of Wollumbin. The name Wollumbin refers the whole of the central vent and its surrounding ring dykes. On 16 May 1770, Captain James Cook was the first European to record seeing "… a remarkable sharp peaked Mountain lying inland…" from

8832-416: Was described as a moderate success, although it grossed below expectations, possibly because of its ecological message. Joseph Gelmis from Newsday , however, described FernGully ' s box-office performance as "dismal", although he noted that it was the most successful recent non-Disney animated film. Co-executive producers, Jaime Willett and Josh Baran, who worked on the film's marketing, both spoke of

8928-543: Was gradually developed since the 1940s. 3D wireframe animation started popping up in the mainstream in the 1970s, with an early (short) appearance in the sci-fi thriller Futureworld (1976). The Rescuers Down Under was the first feature film to be completely created digitally without a camera. It was produced using the Computer Animation Production System (CAPS), developed by Pixar in collaboration with The Walt Disney Company in

9024-520: Was released in North America on April 10, 1992, to mainly positive reviews, and was generally considered a moderate financial success at both the box office and in home video sales. In 1998, it was followed by a direct-to-video sequel, FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue , although none of the original voice cast reprised their roles. Crysta is a fairy of curious nature who lives in FernGully,

9120-465: Was the first person to ever see it. Wollumbin is the central volcanic remnant of an ancient shield volcano , the Tweed Volcano , which would have been about 1,900 m (6,200 ft) above sea level or just under twice the height of the current mountain. This volcano last erupted around 23 million years ago. As the mountain's central vent cooled it shrank, forming a depression at

9216-482: Was widely exploited for propaganda. Many American studios , including Warner Bros. and Disney, lent their talents and their cartoon characters to convey to the public certain war values. Some countries, including China, Japan and the United Kingdom, produced their first feature-length animation for their war efforts. Animation has been very popular in television commercials, both due to its graphic appeal, and

#583416